Begin Again

Instabul, Turkey

"Well, we made it," Blake looked around the city. It was a beautiful city, both historical and arquitecturally. Rowan smiled at it, seeing Duke sniff the air, taking in the new smells. "Why didn't I come sooner?"

"Probably because you never chased after a boat before."

"Probably not," Blake shook her head. Walking through the busy streets, she made sure that her dog stayed at her side. "You've been here before?"

"Once," Rowan nodded. "I came for the annual festivals they have. Very fascinating. There should be a hotel up along here, the man lets me stay here when ever I happened to come by."

"What did you do? Solve a case for him?"

"Helped him design his hotel lobby."

"Oh, okay then," she laughed as he held the door open for her. The hotel was in fact perfectly arranged with simple decor that made it look very elegant. It was an open concept lobby, with a breakfast area and even a television area. Even though it wasn't very large due to the size of the area, it was crowded.

"Rowan," a Turkish man called out. "Rowan! My boy! Oh how good it is to see you!"

The large man laughed, wrapping his plump arms around him. His rosy cheeks and button nose made his facial features somewhat, cute. Blake smiled at the friendliness the man demonstrated towards Rowan, realizing this guy seemed to have all the connections. Paid off being a journalist.

"Oh," he seemed very shocked to see a woman standing at his side. "Who are you?"

"Oh, sorry, Blake Barnes meet Adam."

"Blake," Adam nodded. "Lovely name. Well, I got room for you-."

"Oh no bud, we are separate here," Blake quickly responded at the same time Rowan was saying the same thing. Duke glanced back and forth between his owner and Rowan. Adam snapped his head back, nodding at his mistake. "Sorry."

Honestly, it did not take long to get settled into the rooms so they took up at extra time to get to the docks and spy out their territory. After that, they found no other remedy but to go back to the hotel. Finding some seats at the lobby, Rowan and Blake- mainly Blake- were discussing their plan.

"So what exactly is our plan," Blake questioned. "We can't just hop out and be like, surprise we here to catch you at what ever you are doing. We can't get the police involved because we don't know what they are doing besides probably stealing car part shipments and what ever you are chasing them after."

"Well, obviously we need to get to the Orion. The Captain is Victor Wallace and he has a record of illegal smuggling across the Atlantic. Use to smuggle things off the black market-."

"Whoa, slow back there. What about Albert Reynolds and Jaime Douglas?"

"Those two must have something against you. They have no possibly relation with Wallace."

"Excuse me, you solved the case?! Just like that?! Then why would Albert, dock worker in London, try to warn Jaime, who in fact worked at the docks in New York, about you? Oh," Blake snapped her fingers, realizing what she had just said. Excited, she laughed clapping her hands, pressing them against her faces. "Oh you are dumb sometimes!"

"What- oh wait! You're saying that- Albert in London-."

"Uh huh."

"Jaime in the US-."

"Yup!"

"They are smuggling," They harmonized. Rowan ran his fingers through his hair, looking around the lobby, where Duke was having the time of his life eating couple of raw fishes he found from the kitchen. Rowan looked gazes with the smiling woman, realizing that right there, they actually were on the same page. He had to admit, it felt nice!

"Why else do you think I came to London," Blake crossed her arms. "Obviously, Jaime knew I was looking up things at the docks because my car parts have been going missing for nearly a month-."

"Wait, wait," Rowan extended his hand, trying to make sure that he heard correctly. "The only reason you came to London, was to try to find your missing car parts."

"Yeah," she replied, so calmly, confused at his own shock. What was wrong with that?

"You are one devoted mechanic," Rowan whistled, scratching his forehead. Duke yapped softly, wagging his tail at Rowan.

"Excuse me, that's about ten thousand dollars worth of car parts. I only get the best, and let me tell you Germany is not very cheap."

"You live in Wyoming? So your population is what, one hundred people?"

"Three hundred perhaps. So?"

"You get them all the best parts there is?"

"Yeah. They deserve it, we need tough stuff for our tough jobs. We need things that last, I'm there to make it a quality service, not cheap service."

Rowan was admired at the woman. Most mechanics, sadly, tried to make their work last by buying cheap stuff, just to have the same people coming back for more service jobs. Here was this woman, willing to spend on the most expensive car parts on people so their cars wouldn't need as much service, spending less on something that can be done once. Leaning back, Rowan nodded, recognizing that as he glanced over at the door.

"You want to head to the docks," Rowan asked.

"You asking me now?"

"Well, you made it this far with me," Rowan stood up, extending his hand. "What do you say Blake Barnes? Partners?"

"Partners," she did not hesitate.

Docks, were something Blake was getting use to by now. The strange smells, loud men and loud horns blaring from each boat either coming in or leaving, cranes being operational with their loud clanking and moaning.

"There she is," Rowan stared at the Orion, ported. "They are unloading her cargo."

"There is only one way to find out where those crates are headed," Blake pushed Rowan aside, making way for several stacked crates. Rowan wasn't so sure about climbing back into a crate and letting it take him somewhere. For starters, not all crates are being taken to the same place so they had risk of being separated, again. "Okay then, I see what you are thinking about."

Rowan furrowed his eyebrows, glancing over at her. How did she think about that too?

"Okay well," Blake bit her thumbnail, feeling Duke's head under her other hand. "Think... think."

"We could-," Rowan pointed. "That would work, let's go!"

"Wait what," Blake yelped when Rowan grabbed her arm, pulling her with him.

Next thing Blake knew, she was sitting on the passenger seat of one of the semi trucks, waiting for the semi in front of them to start driving. Rowan sat next to her with Duke sitting between them, watching the people outside, barking orders at one another.

"Okay," Blake whistled softly, scanning the crowd. Rowan clenched his teeth, trained green eyes watching everyone's every move. He knew one single mistake right now would get them two into huge trouble, and they could not afford that. "Look Duke, one moment we are sitting in front of the shop, now we are sitting in front of our doom. How nice."

Rowan's slight smirk touched his lips, eyes rolling slightly. Seeing when the men began moving their hands in a circular motion, that only meant it was time to move out.